Alice Barnes (Canyon SRAM Racing) took the honours as Best British Rider in the AJ Bell Women’s Tour as a trio of Brits finished in the top 10. Barnes’ seventh overall was her best result since taking sixth in 2017 – the only other edition of the race to have had three British riders in the general classification top ten.

Barnes moved up to seventh overall on the final stage, ahead of fellow Brits Pfeiffer Georgi (Team DSM) in eighth, and Joss Lowden (Drops Le Col s/b Tempur) in tenth.

She said: “Winning the Best British award is special, especially with a lot of strong British riders racing the tour this year. The crowds in Felixstowe were amazing for the final podium today so it was special to be there to receive the award with my national champion jersey.”

Alice Barnes in time trial action

The result is Barnes best general classification result since joining Canyon SRAM Racing in 2018 and comes after an impressive fourth in Wednesday’s individual time trial, having led initially in her British national time trial champion’s skinsuit.

“I’m happy that I had a good time trial on stage three that put me into the top ten on GC. I didn’t have my best week with sprints and even though we did our best to get into position for the finals, I didn’t have my sprint kick. Now, it’s time to recover for next week and the final push of the season,” added Barnes.

Having finished her fifth edition of the AJ Bell Women’s Tour, Barnes now looks ahead to defending her time trial and road race titles at the British national championships which take place in Lincoln later this week with the time trial on Thursday and road race on Sunday.